Latest water rights contract up for review

A new and potentially final contract for a $1.86 million water rights purchase between the city and farmer J.L. Wall is expected to be discussed today by city officials.

The revised contract will be reviewed by the Economic Development Tax Advisory Board (EDTAB) during its meeting at 7:30 a.m. today at City Hall.

Pending EDTAB approval, the new contract, which Mayor David Lansford said only contains changes in “minor provisions,” will be discussed by the city commission during a special meeting at 5:15 p.m. today at the Clovis-Carver Library’s North Annex.

“We could, in the morning, have a contract in its virtual final form,” Lansford said.

The purchase of 930 acres worth of water rights that would help provide a supplemental water source for Cannon Air Force Base has been in bureaucratic limbo for several months.

The purchase was first proposed by Lansford to the city’s Water Policy Advisory Board in March. He suggested using economic development money to make the $1.86 million purchase.

The purchase would include 10 wells, piping and easements for future wells.

Lansford said the original contract allows for Wall to drilled 10 domestic wells.

The drilling of these 10 additional wells would be up to Wall’s discretion.

Lansford said city officials did not want those potential wells to be located in the southwest portion of the Wall property.

“This is where nature has placed the best water,” Lansford said. “(It’s where) the deepest part of the aquifer is located.”

The new contract specifies that the additional wells may not be drilled in this area.

Commissioner Chris Bryant said Wall had initially asked for 50 domestic wells — the number has since been whittled down to 10.

He said he is hopeful the purchase will “move forward,” but admitted to not being familiar with the new contract.

“I want to read the contract before I make a comment on that,” he said. “I want to make sure it will be ... a benefit to the city, and to Cannon Air Force Base, now and in the future.”

Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza also stressed carefully reviewing the new contract, adding that he would not yet use the word “hopeful.”

“We need to make sure ... everyone’s on the same page, and to come to a good decision,” he said.

Commissioner Fidel Madrid spoke of securing sustainable water resources for Clovis, mentioning not only the Wall water rights purchase but also the Ute Pipeline Project.

“If we could get sustainable water here in Clovis, then we’ll be here for a long time,” Madrid said. “That aquifer is not going to last forever. We need to get other sources.”

City Commissioner Randy Crowder said he is hopeful a final proposal will be accepted today.

“It’s been fine-tuned down to where all of the details are good for the buyer and the seller,” he said of the contract.

It was reported in March that the water rights purchase would help address short-term and intermediate water supply needs at Cannon.

The purchase is set to use economic development money since it will retain business by keeping personnel at Cannon. The city would then recuperate the cost of the purchase by leasing the water.

The purchase was initially tabled pending testing on the property’s wells.

The city commission approved up to $60,000 to help fund testing on wells and other due diligence procedures on the Wall property in April.

On June 24, it was EDTAB that tabled the decision to buy water rights as members felt the testing showed there was less water beneath the property than previously believed. The purchase contract was approved by the EDTAB during a subsequent meeting June 26.

On July 3, the city commission removed the water rights purchase from the agenda. On July 17, they took no action on the purchase because commissioners Sandra Taylor-Sawyer and Madrid were absent the day of the meeting.